In Donald Trump era, a GOP leader looks to recast his party's image with black voters

Rep. Mark Walker, chair of the Republican Study Committee, is looking beyond Trump and building a GOP on the 2012 "autopsy report" recommendations.
USA TODAY

President Donald Trump listens as Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C. speaks during a meeting with the Republican Study Committee, Friday, March 17, 2017, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.(Photo11: AP)

Correction: This story has been updated to make clear that the unemployment rate for African Americans is at a near-record low.

WASHINGTON – At an elite gathering of Republicans this month in the resort town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Rep. Mark Walker gave a speech urging the party to do more to reach out to African-Americans, Hispanics and other people of color.

At the forum attended by influential conservatives such as House Speaker Paul Ryan and former presidential adviser Karl Rove, Walker elaborated on a message he has delivered in other private conversations with Republicans. Walker's message resonated enough with the audience that after the event, Rove reached out to talk further.

"That would not be my terminology,” Walker said during a telephone interview late last week with USA TODAY.

The uproar over Trump’s comment highlighted a central challenge for Walker, who leads the Republican Study Committee, the largest group of conservatives in the House. He said he is intent on building bridges between the party and African-Americans. But many of Trump's remarks could help to energize black voters to go to the polls to vote against the GOP in this year's midterm elections.

Walker, an affable former pastor, represents a North Carolina district that is one-fifth African-American. He is championing criminal justice reform and funding for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), issues that are high priorities for many African-American voters.

Walker spokesman Jack Minor said the lawmaker is working on legislation that would allow student athletes – many of whom are black – to be compensated for their publicity rights. Walker also has hosted two Washington summits with HBCU leaders, meetings that helped pave the way for year-round Pell grants for HBCU students. He teamed up with North Carolina Democratic Rep. Alma Adams to establish an internship program for students from HBCUs.

Walker also was the first Republican in years to give a keynote address at the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus Foundation dinner in June. All of the group's members are Democrats.

Uphill battle

But Walker’s quest is an uphill battle given the antipathy toward Trump among black voters and the fact that they overwhelming identify as Democrats.

According to Pew Research data, African-American voters are overwhelmingly Democratic, with 84% identifying or leaning left. Only 8% of black voters identify with the Republican Party.

“We’re in a place where we are kind of in a hole digging out when it comes to how we deliver our message,” Walker told USA TODAY, acknowledging the challenges for his party. While Walker’s district has a larger proportion of African-Americans than those of many other GOP lawmakers, he said that’s not the only reason he cares about the outreach.

“This is much larger than my district. I’m trying to lead by example,” he said. Walker won his last election by 18 percentage points and is heavily favored to win re-election in November.

Walker is not the first senior Republican to call for reaching out to minority communities, which are a growing share of the population. After Mitt Romney’s defeat in the 2012 election, the national party commissioned the “Republican National Committee’s Growth and Opportunity Project,” also known as the “autopsy report." Its findings showed the GOP needed to diversify to survive.

Walker took the findings to heart during his first run for Congress in 2014, when he sought the support of a local Democratic leader, the Rev. Odell Cleveland. It took three meetings for Walker to win over the pastor, including a chat in Cleveland's office, coffee together at McDonald's and a small group lunch they attended together.

“I’m a lifelong Democrat and proud of it, but I just believe we have to find common ground,” Cleveland said. He added he still “vehemently” disagrees with some of Walker’s votes, like one to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but he likes him.

Trump won big among white working-class voters in the 2016 presidential election. But even before his campaign began, he had angered many people of color with his effort to prove President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Then during his campaign he made racially charged comments, such as suggesting that Mexican immigrants were rapists.

Since taking office, the president has further fanned racial flames by questioning why the U.S. would let in people from “shithole countries,” referring to Haiti and African countries, and said "many sides" were to blame after a white supremacist rally turned deadly last year in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake – a frequent Trump critic who is retiring – was the only Republican to immediately speak out about Trump's “dog” remark about Manigault Newman.

Television personality and former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman listens during an interview with The Associated Press, Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018, in New York. The president called Manigault Newman "a dog" on Aug. 14.(Photo11: AP)

Walker weighed in later in the week during the USA TODAY interview but said he didn’t think it was the responsibility of Republican lawmakers to criticize every comment the president makes.

“I think on a lot of racial things, a lot of us have pushed back, but is it a member of Congress’ responsibility to re-correct and address every statement the president makes?” Walker said. ”I don’t know if that’s part of our responsibility, especially when there are enough things that have come out of the White House.”

Some African-Americans say that unless Republican lawmakers strongly disavow Trump’s comments about minorities, their efforts to reach out will go nowhere.

“We have a commander in chief that is clearly racist,” said Avis Jones-DeWeever, a Democratic consultant who works on minority outreach. “We’re not seeing Republicans in Congress – through very critical moments like these – stand up and say anything."

GOP 'autopsy' report

Jones-DeWeever said Walker’s biggest problem is that his party has a “lack of credibility” on whether it truly wants to do what it takes to attract black voters.

Ari Fleischer, who co-wrote the 2012 GOP "autopsy" report and was President George W. Bush’s press secretary, told USA TODAY he was “heartened to hear” about Walker’s work. Fleischer said "it is vital” that the party grow its base to include blacks, Hispanics and other minorities.

Right now, he said the party isn’t doing a great job. Trump’s election expanded Republican voters, Fleischer said, but it was in “a different direction.” The president brought in white blue-collar voters, but that boost doesn’t negate the need to also bring in minorities.

Fleischer said despite near-record lows in unemployment for African-Americans, the president’s rhetoric “has not been helpful.”

Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and an African-American, said he admires what Walker is doing, but he still doesn't have much hope his party will improve relationships with minorities.

“Since Trump stepped all over that document in 2016, you haven’t heard boo-hiss about it,” Steele said about the GOP “autopsy" report.

“You have guys like Mark and others who take it upon themselves to try to exemplify those values and back them up with action ... but that’s not something that is a concerted push by the party as a whole, and it won’t be in this particular era at this particular time,” Steele said.

Walker and other Republicans may find an opening with African-Americans who feel the Democratic Party is taking their vote for granted and parachuting in at the last minute to get their support. Sabrina Singh, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, said the party learned in 2016 that it needs to start organizing in minority communities earlier and has been since.

For her part, Anita Estell, head of CELIE, a nonprofit focused on civic engagement, said she didn’t think the focus on Trump should prevent people from listening to Walker. Estell said she’d be happy to engage with Walker on diversity.

“I come from an era where Democrats and Republicans worked together,” Estell said. “If Mark Walker is trying to be a public servant for all of the residents of North Carolina, God bless him.”